


Paradise in ruins

by orphan_account



Series: Aria of Winter [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:00:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Kagome returns to her era, Inuyasha is at a loss as to what he can do with his life and decides to visit a place where he fought off an old enemy.-This is where all my fluff one shots will go-
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Series: Aria of Winter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695190
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Paradise in Ruins

Note: This is a one-shot fluff sequel to my other fic. 

Dried blood splattered against the decaying wooden walls made for an unpleasant scent as Inuyasha walked through the castle ruins. He didn’t know why he felt compelled to come here; it held no significance outside of it being the place where he encountered the leader of the seven-man army. Slain victims were nowhere to be seen—perhaps someone had the decency to come around and bury the dead. 

Even months later, Inuyasha could still catch the faint scent of the grave stained walking corpses. Although he hated to admit it, they were a thorn on his side. It was the mercenaries who reminded him that his mortal friends were a lot more fragile than he once thought they were—the poison master had proven as much. 

Curiosity had gotten the better of Inuyasha when he went through each individual room, many of which were still habitable to his surprise. ‘The harvest isn’t looking too good this year… I may as well see if there’s anything worth looting around here.’

He silently cursed himself for allowing the thought to even cross his mind—but the blow was softened by the knowledge that he could use anything of value to help feed Kaede’s village if the worst were to happen. It’d at least be what Kagome wanted.

Kagome.

He tried to push that name aside after she returned to her era. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about how badly he wanted to apologize to her for every awful thing he had ever said to her. 

‘Are you happy back in your era? If you’re happy, then I’m happy.’

It was a lie he could no longer repeat to himself, even as he inspected each room that wasn’t damaged by the Band of Seven. ‘How did you even put up with me, even after I kept breaking your heart?’

Inuyasha then stumbled upon kakemono which still hung on the wall. On it, there was a picture of a single horned deer like horse standing beside a pond under a sakura tree. Then, there was another kakemono depicting an Oni being slain by braided warrior riding in on a white horse while a noblewoman watched. 

Even with a coat of dust on it, the colors were still vibrant. Inuyasha was almost afraid to touch them with the fear of ruining them during his quest to find a merchant willing to pay top gold for. Before he could think up of a way to grab the kakemono, he heard the distinct sound of gunfire from just outside. 

He looked outside the window to see a boy with a tanegashima, wearing worn down clothing typical of a noble. He almost looked like a mini feudal lord himself with his hair up in a high ponytail. “What’s a brat like you doing in a place like this?!” Inuyasha shouted as he hopped out of the window to get down to ground level with the boy. Upon closer inspection, he could see the fierceness in the boy’s azure eyes. 

“I grew up behind these walls alongside my great grandfather up until a few months ago.” The boy said, reloading his tanegashima before taking aim once more. 

“I take it he was the lord of this castle.” The will to loot the corpse of a castle started to fade away from Inuyasha. The boy’s face softened, and he nodded, lowering his firearm. “And now you’re guarding it?”

“I’ve been picking off grave robbers for the last couple of months now! I’ll only warn you once, leave or you will leave with one leg!” Inuyasha had no interest in fighting the child; he could easily grab his tessiaga and be done with it. He couldn’t brush off the fact that the boy had seemed oddly familiar to him, even though he couldn’t put his finger on why.

Instead of retaliating, Inuyasha crossed his arms. “So, that’s why I’ve been seeing an increase of lame bandits around here lately. Who would have thought it’d have been done by a pipsqueak like you?”

The boy glared. “My name is Ryuta, not pipsqueak! Now unless you’re offering me food, get out of here!”

“If I grab you something to eat, will you calm down?”

Ryuta slowly nodded and kept his gaze fixed on Inuyasha as the hanyou left. 

\--------------------------------------

It was amazing how quickly Ryuta’s demeanour changed as he chomped down on his share of the boar’s flesh after it was cooked over an open fire. Up close, Inuyasha could see that Ryuta had bags under his eyes—possibly from endless nights of defending this last piece of his childhood he had left.

“How have you managed to hold out this long?” Inuyasha asked once he was certain that Ryuta had his fill.

Ryuta rested his chain over the palm of his hand. “Ever since the day that this place was decimated by the Band of Seven. I’ve been living from whatever I’ve been able to loot off the bandits I’ve crippled or killed.”

“Killed?!”

Ryuta nodded. It was unsettling how casual the boy was at confessing to killing bandits. “You either kill or be killed in this world. I learned that the hard way when I found my great grandfather’s corpse after he had his head chopped off.”

Inuyasha sighed. “If it’s of any comfort to you, I sent those bastards back to the grave where they belong.” 

Ryuta forced himself to laugh. “Thanks, I guess. If only I were a little bigger then I could’ve faced the leader myself; I’ll never forgive him for murdering my great grandfather and General Kaneda that day.” He sipped on some water. “Then they killed Hanako, the lady who raised me since my mother died shortly after I was born. What crime did she commit against them?”

“I know how it feels to lose a mother. You must have felt powerless.”

Ryuta stared at Inuyasha after dropping his smirk. “The worst part of it is that I was the only one spared that day… though I would have been killed if not for the leader intervening.”

Inuyasha snorted. “I don’t think Bankotsu was ever known for being merciful. Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know why either… all he said was, ‘I’m sorry My Lady’ and then told me to escape before he changes his mind.” 

“I’ve never heard him speak of any woman before. Why would he say that to some random kid anyway?”

“I doubt he’d even tell you much anyway. I think I saw a rare moment of weakness from him the moment he looked at my face—as if he had seen me somewhere before. But where, who knows?”

Inuyasha scoffed and crossed his arms as he stared into the dancing flames of the campfire. “It’s strange, after everything I’ve been through, I still can’t get it out of my mind. Bloodthirsty murderer is how I’d describe him.” 

Ryuta nodded and brushed his jet-black bangs away from his eyebrows. “Sounds about consistent with the stories that Kaneda used to tell me about them. He told me that the leader was responsible for why my mother died and thus, he commanded their execution.” 

There were now so many questions Inuyasha had that he would never receive answers for even if he wanted. In some ways, he now wished that Bankotsu hadn’t been so stubborn and fled with his life back at Mt. Hakurei; at least then there would be some context behind what Ryuta was saying. 

Inuyasha would have felt guilty if he left the kid alone now, especially with the damage to the walls surrounding the castle. Yet, he wasn’t sure where he could even begin with making the needed repairs to make the walls formidable. How was Ryuta going to cope with the incoming winters on his own?

“Would you mind coming with me to my mother’s grave?” Ryuta asked with a gentle smile. 

Inuyasha nodded, not having anything better to do at this point. 

\--------------------------------------------

The lone limestone stood not too far from the castle; it was over by a cliff where the castle stood; surrounded by pine trees. Along the way, Ryuta picked up the first flowers he could find and placed them near the grave as Inuyasha caught up with him. 

“General Kaneda told me that she was once a noblewoman who was a diplomat for the great Daimyo Narusegawa that helped bring down the Band of Seven! I come here whenever I can to give her bellflowers, since they were her favorite.” 

Inuyasha kept his eye towards the castle- he couldn’t help but wonder if there were opportunistic bandits who would try and loot the place while Ryuta wasn’t around to defend it. “Where’s Narusegawa now?”

“She died shortly after their execution from blood loss, or so they say. Her stallion still roams around the lands, looking for a new master.” Ryuta said. “If I could tame him, then I’d start looking to gather an army and reclaim these lands as a benevolent daimyo.”

“Good to see you’re ambitious.”

Ryuta chuckled. “Well first, I need to finish making the needed repairs on the walls… which will take a long time by myself. In the meantime, I need to keep training against the bandits until I can confidently take down a dozen by myself without relying on my tanegashima alone.”

“Where is your father in all of this?” Inuyasha asked, having been bothered by the gap in the story.

Ryuta stroked the limestone and then joined Inuyasha in looking over the castle. “I was told that my father also died on that same day that the mercenaries were executed. He had sworn loyalty to my mother alone; something he announced to Narusegawa alongside his own advisor. That he was the one who saved my mom from a terrible monster while riding in on a white horse named Raiu.”

Inuyasha placed his hand on Ryuta’s shoulder. “Sounds like he was a man of honor. I think you’ll grow into a formidable warrior in your own right if you put your mind into it.”

Before Ryuta could reply, he could see a group of men approaching the castle and gasped. “Oh no, I knew I shouldn’t have come here!”

“Get on my back, I’ll get you there quickly.”

\--------------------------

The bandits had rushed into the courtyard, looking for an entrance which didn’t look like it was going to collapse. “Geeze, this place is a dump. I doubt there’s anything valuable around here.”

“There’s got to be some treasure left if there’s men coming back from here scared shitless of the guardian.” Their search would not last long within the castle as they came across a bloodstained Murasaki cloth hung up on a stand where a heavy zanbato was once placed. 

“Oh ho, this color of fabric is quite rare. It’ll fetch a high price.”

“Hey, look at these kakemonos!” 

Their gaggling crowd had been too enamoured by the art to have noticed Ryuta silently walking into the room with his tanegashima. With their backs turned towards him, he did not hesitate to pull the trigger and watch them fall to the ground.

Once the gunfire went off, Inuyasha jumped in through the window and shouted, “Iron reaver soul stealer” as he wounded two more bandits. “Hey kid, get out of here and I’ll deal with them!” Ryuta nodded and ran out the room before the bandits had a chance to catch up with him. 

“Now which one of you would like a taste of my claws?” 

The remaining bandits dropped the Murasaki cloth and scrambled to get away from the hanyou, screaming to signal the others to get out of the castle as fast as possible. The injured bandits crawled away from Inuyasha, weeping while begging for mercy.

“It’s not me you should be begging for mercy, it’s the kid you should be asking.” Inuyasha said with a smirk. A part of him missed being feared to this extent by humans- especially the scumbags. 

As the injured ones made their way to the courtyard, they were met with the wrathful gaze of Ryuta who was reloading weapon. “Give me five reasons I shouldn’t kill you right here and now!” He shouted as they collapsed on to the courtyard.

“Please, young master, we’ll do anything you ask us to do around here if you spare our lives.” 

Ryuta looked over towards Inuyasha and back at the bandits, then sighed. “Alright, how about you guys start making the needed repairs to this place and I’ll think about sparing your lives. Hand your weapons over and get to work once some of your strength returns.”

The bandits were stunned. 

“And then, I’d like for you to pledge your loyalty to me and start recruiting as many young men as you can for my army. Then, I shall forgive you enough not to shoot you.” They bowed their heads. “I’ll execute all of you if you choose to betray me.”

Inuyasha joined Ryuta. “And I’ll be here to make sure that you bastards keep your promise to him. If I find out that any of you double crossed him, I’ll make sure to hold you all accountable.”

Ryuta raised his brows and looked up at Inuyasha with admiration. 

For the next few weeks, Inuyasha helped Ryuta over see the reconstruction of various parts of the castle after the bandits recovered from their injuries. There was something admirable about how efficient they proved themselves to be once there was the promise of shelter and food so long as they followed Ryuta’s guidance. 

Once Inuyasha felt confident that the castle was mostly restored and that there wasn’t going to be any betrayal, he announced his leave.

“But wait, Inuyasha…” Ryuta said, grabbing onto Inuyasha’s sleeve. “Where can I go from here?”

Inuyasha smiled. “That’s up to you to figure out. Don’t worry, I’ll keep coming back every month to check up on this place.”

“Before you go, I’d like you to take this.” Ryuta handed a blue peacock inspired hairpin with an azure pearl hanging off the edge of it. “My father got this for my mother at a Nanban market during the summer before my birth. I’d like you to keep it.”

Inuyasha looked the hairpin over and nodded. “Alright, so be it. See you around.”

\------------------------------

Kagome changed out of her uniform for one last time before joining Inuyasha on an evening stroll. “So, what did you call me all the way out here for?” 

Without a word he handed her a hairpin and looked away so that she couldn’t see how crimson his face was.

“Wow, this is really pretty. Thank you!”


	2. More Fluff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just some fluff that didn't make it into Aria of Winter because it felt out of place. Just focused on Bankotsu for the most part.

A cool breeze from the waterfall soothed Sayaka’s aching heart as she stared at it from her balcony. ‘I guess I’ve wasted my time coming here.’ She was at least grateful to have worn her pink yukata, as it wasn’t as heavy as her other clothes. 

Suddenly, she was blinded by two hands covering her grey eyes. “Guess who?” Sayaka turned around as soon he pulled his hands away. “Ugh, I’m sorry for being late. Jakotsu tripped over a rock and I had to carry him on my back to the base… and then I had to go grab my Banryu and ran over here as fast as I could.” There was a strained smile on Bankotsu’s face, as though he were a child that was caught in the middle of a bad deed. 

“It’s alright, I was just beginning to doze off.”

Bankotsu looked over the railing, taking in the sights of the waterfall and vast pine forest in the endless landscape. “Huh, you weren’t wrong when you said that you had a nice view from here. What’s the history behind this place?”

“Another one of Lord Akihiko’s estates that he inherited from his late father.” Sayaka said, leaning forward against the railing. She closed her eyes for a second, listening to the roaring waterfall and choir of birds. “I used to come here with him when we were kids. It’s a lovely place to come and just recharge, if you know what I mean.”

“Now that you mention it, I agree.” Bankotsu put an arm around Sayaka’s shoulder and pulled her in close. “So… what are you up to when I’m not around?”

“Oh, you know, diplomacy and stuff.”

“That sounds like a boring job.”

Sayaka furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. “Well, if it’s boring then that means I’m doing a splendid job at keeping the peace. Diplomacies are often a fickle thing that needs an attention to detail and the ability to make irresistible negotiations for them to work.”

“Well damn, so that’s why I see a lot of trade carts come and go around here. Way to go to put me out of a job!” 

“Uh… sorry! I didn’t mean to do such a horrible thing to you. Would you like me to make up for it by giving you a job as a soldier around here until you find more work?!” Sayaka looked up at Bankotsu with genuine remorse. 

He could no longer hold back from laughing after seeing how defensive she got. “I’m just pulling your leg.” He dug into the bag he brought with him and handed Sayaka a dozen or so scrolls. “Anyways, Renkotsu wanted me to give you this so you can store it away just in case it’s needed. He copied down a bunch of his notes regarding how he figured out how to build Ginkotsu and stuff. I’ve never seen him so happy before after I asked him on your behalf to explain what Ginkotsu is.”

With a smile, Sayaka gently took the scrolls from Bankotsu. “Passionate people are often overjoyed when someone takes interest in their life works. All this information here could be used to benefit veterans.”

“How so?”

“Well for starters, I could get in touch with some of the greatest scholars in the land to start making automaton limbs for soldiers who lost theirs. Even if they cannot return to the battlefield, they’ll at least be able to lead a better quality of life.”

“I don’t think the advancements are quite there, yet.”

All Sayaka could do to respond to him was lean her head against his shoulder and sighed. 

“I’ve been meaning to return something to you. I almost forgot it at the base.” He said. 

“What do you mean?”

From the bag, Bankotsu had pulled out a blue hairpin with a teardrop pendant hanging off from it. “I believe that this hairpin belongs to you.”

“I’ve been looking all over for that! I thought I’d lost it for good.” Sayaka said as she looked over the pin and then embraced him. “Thank you!”

He broke the embrace and took the hair pin back, then his tone shifted into scolding. “It’s a good thing I noticed it when it fell out of your hair. Let me put it on for you.” She nodded and allowed him to fumble about as he tried to figure out how to put in the hairpin. Surely Jakotsu must have needed his assistance at least once or twice. 

“Now you look like an empress!”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” She wished that she knew where she had placed her hand mirror. Though for now she had to be satisfied with Bankotsu’s judgement on how she looked. 

“Why not? It’s the truth, you know.” 

“You flatter me too much.” Her faced turned crimson as he placed his hands on her shoulders. Without needing to say anything, she leaned in closer to him. They had almost locked lips until they could hear a sliding door. 

“Lady Sayaka, I’m glad to have found you here with my dear leader.” 

“Ugh, go away Renkotsu I’m busy!”

Never had Bankotsu been as unhappy to see his second in command as he was now. He had been grateful for everything the Sohei had done for him until this point but was still annoyed to see him nonetheless at this moment. 

Renkotsu was unphased by Bankotsu’s aggressive tone. “Calm down, I’ll leave so you can continue your quest to court her. In the meantime, I’d like to hand over this scroll I had forgotten. It goes into detail regarding pyrotechnics that are required for this.”

Sayaka broke away from Bankotsu and took the scroll before nodding nervously. “Thank you, this is pretty amazing stuff. I’ll make sure that it will be used for the greater good of the future.”

“I’m glad that there is someone interested in my handiwork… unlike some people.” There was an a smile on Renkotsu’s face that was almost gentle… one which Bankotsu had never seen before. Nonetheless, he was still annoyed by the intrusion.

“Well sorry for not being as well read as you are. I’m trying my best to learn half the things that you know.” Bankotsu said before crossing his arms and looking away. 

Renkotsu sighed and rubbed his brows. “Literacy isn’t easy to come by; I will confess that much. Which is why Sayaka is a good role model for you to have.”

“Would you like me to help?” Sayaka asked, wrapping her arms around Bankotsu.

“You’d be a much better teacher than this guy, who berates me whenever I don’t understand something cryptic.”

Renkotsu frowned and just stared with judgement. “I’ll meet you back at the base by dawn.”

“Sounds good to me.” Bankotsu waved as Renkotsu left the room and then turned his attention towards Sayaka. “Can you believe that guy? He just had to come in and kill the mood like that.”

“If you ask me, he seems to mean well.”

“You’re right, he does. I’m just giving him a hard time and whatnot.” He pulled her in another embrace. “So, Sayaka?”

“Yes?”

“If I were to become a lord, would you become my diplomat instead? I only hire the best of the best.”

“If things go south with Narusegawa, then sure.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a one shot sequel to ‘Aria in Winter’, my other fic which is updated weekly


End file.
